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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26675617">Attempted Reconciliation</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/geneticallyemancipated/pseuds/geneticallyemancipated'>geneticallyemancipated</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The RepoHunter and the Repoman's Daughter [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anger, Angst, Arguing, Family Drama, Gen, Mag is alive and mentioned, Reunions</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 13:22:32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,757</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26675617</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/geneticallyemancipated/pseuds/geneticallyemancipated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been ten years since cutting contact with her father following the Genetic Opera, Shilo agrees to bring her husband and young children to her father's home to attempt to begin reconnecting as a family. Things don't quite go as planned.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Nathan Wallace &amp; Shilo Wallace, Shilo Wallace/Original Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The RepoHunter and the Repoman's Daughter [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2010160</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Attempted Reconciliation</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/madxhatterxteapot/gifts">madxhatterxteapot</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p><b>IMPORTANT:</b> This fic is based on an ongoing alternate universe roleplay between myself and mad-hatter-teacups (who owns the OC Matthaeu Arestevik) on Tumblr. We're still pretty early in the main story thread (aka far from the Genetic Opera) and I had to be vague at some parts we haven't gotten to yet but I hope it's concise enough! Also, this fic contains spoilers to 'Night of the RepoHunter'!</p><p>In this universe, Nathan and Mag survive the Genetic Opera. We're still pretty early in the main story thread so there are some canon elements we're still not sure about, but in this fic, Amber Sweet takes over after the death of Rotti Largo and GeneCo is still in power, but they still have Reposessions and Zydrate (guess she didn't face as much shame at the Opera to have such a change of heart like she did in canon).</p><p>Rated T for some language!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The year was 2066, exactly ten years since the events of the Genetic Opera. Even after a decade later, that fateful night stood in infamy for many. But for some, it was the start of significant change. Among those was Shilo Wallace, who was now known as Shilo Arestevik.</p><p>
One person she owed everything to was Matthaeu Arestevik, or Matt as she knew him. If it weren’t for him, she had no idea where she could have been now. The most notable attribute of Matt was his red eyes, which Shilo found out later was a result of a rare form of heterochromia. Standing about half a foot taller than Shilo, he was usually seen with goggles sitting on top of his ginger hair and most of the time had a stoic expression on his freckled face. While stoic and calm, he was far from uncaring. 
</p><p>
 Their first meeting was anything but storybook 17-year-old Shilo waking up to see through her window a mysterious figure standing on her balcony before confronting him with a large knife in hand as her father, Nathan, was not home at the time. Matt clarified he wasn’t there to intrude but to hide from GeneCops. As they exchanged back in forth, the encounter made him curious about her current state with her illness and he offered to take her to his place of employment, OrganEct, to have her examined. OrganEct, run by a masked woman solely known as the Madame, stood as GeneCo’s competitor and strived to bring them down. At first, she only knew him as a graverobber that sold a less addictive knock-off version of Zydrate that was meant to break patients of their addiction to GeneCo’s version. 
</p><p>
He was also a Repohunter who, as the title suggested, hunted and killed Repomen before harvesting their healthy organs to use for their own patients. By pure coincidence, before Shilo met him, Matt had been assigned to take out Nathan. She didn’t find out about this until later into the night, as if anything else could have thrown her into a bigger loop than she already was in. Except Matt ended up sparing Nathan, as much as he wanted to slice and dice him for doing what he did to his own daughter, poisoning her while claiming she was sick and keeping her isolated for her entire life up until then. 
</p><p>
As it stood, GeneCo was still in power with Rotti Largo’s daughter, Amber Sweet, now sitting pretty in her late father’s old throne. One of the few things that remained the same was GeneCo’s policies, such as their use of Repomen and their addictive form of Zydrate. Sanitarium Island continued to be terrorized by these masked murderous surgeons lurking in the streets, and OrganEct continued to hunt them down one by one. However, for whatever reason, Amber authorized for Nathan Wallace and the Voice of GeneCo Magdalene “Blind Mag” Defoe to retire from their respective jobs peacefully. 
</p><p>
Following the Genetic Opera, Shilo moved in with Mag, who was revealed that night to be her godmother and dear friend of her late mother, Marni. Many other revelations had been unveiled night, such as the true nature of Shilo’s “illness” brought upon by her father, her father’s double life as a Repoman, and how her mother truly died. She spent several months in isolation while trying to process this earth-shattering reality. She will never be grateful for how patient Mag was with her while she adjusted to being the new guardian of her goddaughter. Funnily enough, Shilo dreamed when she was younger about Blind Mag becoming her new mother by falling in love and marrying her father after watching him lament over her mother’s death for years. Never did she picture her dream coming partially true, but at this point, she wouldn’t have had it any other way. It was thanks to Mag’s unconditional support and encouragement she gained the courage to finally seek out therapy to help her with her swimming thoughts and emotions.
</p><p>
Through all the hardship, she never fell out of touch with Matt. He would occasionally call her to check up on her progress, ask how she was doing, or just have a chat. It was then, about a year after the Opera, when Shilo realized she was falling in love with him. When she was ready, the pair started to spend time together. They never felt the need to be intimate until much later, but they enjoyed each other’s company whenever they hung out. Whether it was playing video games together, having tea with Matt’s mother Dolores (who’d embarrass him with her gushing about their relationship), watching a movie at the theatre, or simply hanging out in his room.  
</p><p>
On that eventful night ten years ago, Shilo was gaunt, terrified, completely isolated from the world, and sick— or so she thought. Now at 27-years-old, since she had broken free from the suffocating grasp of her overbearing father, she had done very well for herself. More confident and carefree, happily married to Matt, mother of their two young children, working as a doctor at OrganEct, living with her husband, children, mother-in-law, and their many cats. Her body was more womanly and not alarmingly thin like it used to be, and she had more piercings in her ears and even a brow piercing. She still liked to dress gothic, but she tended to wear more casual clothes. For her 20th birthday, she got a tattoo of large angel wings on her back to signify her healing and freedom from her former life. The differences between her back then and now were like light and day. It took years of growth and hard work to get where she was, but all the same, it was worth it.
</p><p>
Shilo’s happy little world came to a halt when she was having a mother-daughter date with an uneasy Mag one afternoon, who informed her Nathan had sent a letter to her godmother’s home addressed to her as she blocked his number years ago. It was a particularly long letter, he explained why he did what he did and expressed regret for the way he was. What made Shilo’s stomach churn was him suggesting they possibly meet up sometime future to try to reconnect. Mag had as much contact with Nathan as Shilo did, and he had no idea his daughter was now married and had children with the man who was supposed to kill him.
</p><p>
Upon returning home, she immediately discussed the matter with Matt, who was personally very against the idea but left the decision up to her to make. She slept on it for a few weeks before deciding to give seeing her father a chance. Along with that, she was able to talk Matt into going with her and taking their two children, 2-year-old Vergil and 4-month-old Maggie, with them. Her husband was <i>not</i> a big fan of the idea but knew it was what Shilo wanted, he’ll just have to bite his tongue whenever he’s tempted to throw a jab at him. But they both knew should Nathan try anything; Matt would do anything protect him and his wife and children, even if he must resort to threats or, in the worst-case scenario, violence. 
</p><p>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
</p><p>
Standing in front of the familiar door of the Wallace house, Shilo clutched her toddler son in her shaking arms in nervousness. Her husband followed behind her, holding the handle of the car seat baby Maggie was still strapped in. She lifted an arm to ring the doorbell before watching intently through the door’s window.
</p><p>
	“I just hope this goes okay,” Shilo muttered. She tried to not have too high of expectations of how this visit will go. If it were to go well, great, but if not then she wouldn’t be too disappointed. She broke the decade-long silence when she sent her father a letter in reply and corresponded with him on a time and date to meet, but not much beyond that.
</p><p>
	“He better not fuck this up,” Matt huffed from behind her, she turned to face him.
</p><p>
	“If he does, we’ll leave.” She smiled reassuringly at him, but she found it difficult to hide how nervous she was.
</p><p>
	The front door swung open before Shilo was faced with a face she had not seen in years. Nathan stood in the doorway, beaming at the sight of his daughter.
</p><p>
	“Shilo! Look at you, all grown up and beautiful!” He said, immediately opening his arms to her. His age was showing in the warm face before her, his hair now fully light grey. "It’s so good to see you, precious!"
</p><p>
	“Hey, Dad! It’s good to see you, too.” She said cheerfully, leaning in and wrapping an arm around him as he hugged her with Vergil in between them. 
</p><p>
	Nathan made the mistake of looking behind her while he was still in his embrace with his daughter to see red eyes shooting daggers at him. He immediately pulled back, his gaze shifting down to the toddler in Shilo’s arms, ruffling the little one’s curly dark brown hair with a smile before gesturing to the door.
</p><p>
	“Come on in! We have so much to talk about.” Nathan said, trying to keep the chipper tone in his voice. He stepped aside to allow the bunch inside, preventing eye contact with the scrutinous redhead, who was simply gazing forward as they entered the house. 
</p><p>
	“Wow, it’s all still the same…” Shilo gazed around the living room as she sat down on the love seat and Matt took a seat next to her, setting Maggie’s car seat next to his feet.
</p><p> 
“Now, could I get any of you something to drink? Water? Tea? Wine?” Nathan offered from the threshold of the living room.
</p><p>
Shilo glanced over to see Matt giving her father a look of scrutiny at his offer. “Oh, no thank you, Dad. We’re fine.” She reached to place a reassuring hand onto her husband’s knee as her father shrugged and took a seat on a nearby couch. Shilo spotted that Nathan had a nearly empty glass of wine of his own on an end table. He must have been just as nervous as she was.</p><p> 
“So, Shilo,” Nathan leaned forward with his hands folded. “How’s life been? I see you’ve come with a couple of little ones.” He gazed at Vergil in Shilo’s arms, who shyly turned to hide his face in his mother’s chest.
</p><p> 
“Oh, yeah,” Shilo began. “Well, you know I lived with Mag for a while. I’ve been working as a doctor… at OrganEct.”
</p><p> 
“A doctor, huh? Kind of like your old man?” Nathan chuckled, trying to ignore the name of the company that wanted him dead. Matt rolled his eyes at his comment.
</p><p> 
Shilo chuckled uncomfortably. “Yeah.” Except she chose the career to be the opposite of her father, to save people for a living instead of killing them violently.
“Anyway, wanna meet your grandkids?” She asked, quickly changing the subject.
</p><p> 
“Why, of course!” Nathan held his arms open. Shilo stood up and walked over to place Vergil into Nathan’s eager arms. “Come to Grandpa—oh…” But as soon as Vergil was placed in Nathan’s lap, the toddler started to whimper loudly and reached out to Shilo to pick him back up.
</p><p> 
“I’m sorry about that,” she apologized as she took Vergil back into her arms. “He’s kinda shy and always does this with new people. He’s usually calm for a minute before he starts crying, though.” 
</p><p> 
Nathan appeared disappointed but nodded with understanding. “I understand. Your grandparents told me I was the exact same way.”
</p><p> 
“Let’s try this,” she back walked over to Matt. “Here.” She placed Vergil into Matt’s arms and crouched down to unstrap Maggie from her car seat. She stood up with the baby in her arms. “This is Maggie.” Her heels clicked as she walked back over to her father to place her into his arms.
</p><p> 
“I should’ve known you’d name your daughter after Mag,” Nathan chuckled as he took the baby. He gazed down at the infant lovingly. “Hi there, Maggie.” Maggie simply gazed at her grandfather for a moment before giving him a big smile back. She reached up to grab at his face before grabbing the bridge of his glasses, which only made Nathan smile even more. He snuggled the baby closer to him. Of all things he expected to be, a grandfather wasn't one of them.
</p><p> 
Once again taking her seat next to her husband, Shilo couldn’t help but smile from ear to ear at the sight. “Yeah, that’s Maggie. And the little guy is Vergil. Maggie’s 4 months and Vergil just turned 2.”
</p><p> 
“Well, they’re absolutely beautiful,” Nathan placed a kiss on his granddaughter’s forehead. Maggie bore a great resemblance to her father with her red hair and having a similar face, but she had hazel eyes. Vergil resembled his mother and grandmother Marni with his face, hair, and brown eyes. “Vergil looks just like your mother.”
</p><p>
This time, Matt glanced over to see Shilo silently cringe. He knew just how much Shilo hated being constantly compared to her late mother, whether in appearance or personality. Worst yet, the fact his son was compared to his grandmother—who Nathan had always obsessed over— instead of his mom as if she didn’t exist as her own person was painful to hear.
</p><p>
 Regaining her composure, Shilo cleared her throat. “Anyway, I’ve done a lot of music in my spare time. I took a bunch of guitar lessons. Mag and I even worked together to write some songs of our own.” She brushed a lock of hair behind her ear, a bit embarrassed talking about her achievements, especially since said songs expressed her emotions and thoughts during her healing, which included her resentment towards Nathan. “But since the kids came along, I haven’t been able to do as much lately.”
</p><p>
“That sounds wonderful, Shi,” Nathan gazed up as Maggie’s tiny fingers gripped his finger. “How has Mag been?”
</p><p>
“She’s doing fine. Enjoying retirement.” Shilo knew Mag didn’t really want much to do with Nathan after all that’s happened. 
</p><p>
Nathan smile faltered when he caught a glimpse of Shilo’s hand resting on her knee, seeing a wedding band on her finger.
“So… I take it you got married?” 
</p><p>
“Huh?” Shilo asked before she fully processed the question. “Oh, yeah. Matt and I got married at the courthouse a few years ago. We’ve talked about having an ‘actual’ wedding as well, but it keeps getting pushed back as life stuff happened. We think it’d be much more special with the kids at the wedding, too.”
</p><p>
Nathan felt a wave of relief at her answer. “I see. So, this means I will get the chance to walk you down the aisle, right?”
</p><p>
Shilo was silent, not entirely sure how to answer his question. She glanced at Matt as if he could give her an answer, but his answer to the question was likely not something Nathan would like to hear. Would Nathan attending an event full of people who wanted to tear him limb from limb be a wise decision?
</p><p>
“Uh, we’ll see…” Shilo said. “We’ll have to see how things are. With… you know…”
</p><p>
“…What do you mean?” Nathan asked, standing Maggie on his lap while keeping his gaze towards Shilo.
</p><p>
“I mean,” Shilo shifted in her seat. “It’d be a bit difficult since there’s… still a bit of tension in the air about what happened.”
</p><p>
“But it’s been 10 years.”
</p><p>
“I know,” Shilo gulped when she felt a lump in her throat. “But if we’re going to start being a family again, it’s going to take some time to slowly start building trust and to prevent re-opening old wounds--.”
</p><p>
“I thought we were here to patch things up and be a family again.” 
</p><p>
“Well, sort of. It’s just that… well… it’s not just us that needs time. Mag and Matt’s mom will need time--.”
</p><p>
“But I miss you, Shi. I want to be in your life again. And I want to be in your kids’ life, too. How many times do I have to say I’m sorry!?”
</p><p>
“Dad, how much wine did you drink--?”
</p><p>
“Do you think I’m going to cause trouble? Just what do you think I am going to do? You haven’t lived here in 10 years and I’m not a Repoman anymore.” He started raising his voice. Maggie just looked at him with confusion while Vergil cowered in his father’s chest. “You know I’d never do anything to hurt you!”
</p><p>
“Bullshit,” Matt said under his breath, nearly inaudible. 
</p><p>
Shilo bit her lip as she fought back the tears stinging her eyes. “Dad, please, just listen to me. Don’t you remember how long it took to heal from Mom’s death?”
</p><p>
“It never stopped, Shi. It only got worse after you left. I failed and lost my entire family. In the end, I could not protect you, even from myself. Even worse…” Nathan huffed, looking down at the baby he was holding. “I lost you to someone no better than me.”
</p><p>
 Shilo’s eyed widened while Matt’s glare turned deadly once again. “Dad, you don’t mean--.”
</p><p>
Nathan points a free hand at Matt. “This punk kidnapped you and took you to the people that wanted me disemboweled. Then he and his mother indoctrinate you into believing I’m the bad guy for doing the exact same things they did. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s been manipulating you this entire time.”
</p><p>
“Excuse me!?” Shilo was taken aback. “First of all, I was never ‘indoctrinated’. OrganEct gave me the answers you were hiding from me. Matt and Dolores are <i>nothing</i> like you. So far, Matt has been a better father than you’ve ever been.” She tried her best to not raise her voice to prevent scaring the kids, but she could still see the hurt in Nathan’s eyes. “And how dare you accuse Matt of manipulating me. He’s not like that at all! I love him!”
</p><p>
 “How do you know!? He’s the only boy you’ve known!” 
</p><p>
“Yeah, and who’s fault is that!?”
</p><p>
“And just how could you condemn me when he does the exact same thing! How many Repomen has he killed in cold blood in his lifetime?”
</p><p>
 “How many <i>innocent people</i> did you kill in cold blood in your lifetime!” 
</p><p>
Nathan paused and looked down at Maggie in his arms standing up, holding her for Shilo to see. “You see this child? Do you really want her to possibly end up like him!?”
</p><p>
Shilo stood up, the tears in her eyes were threatening to spill, her husband's eyebrow furrowed. “Dad! Stop! You leave her out of this!”
</p><p>
“Just how are you going to explain to these kids when they’re older what Dad does for a living!? You think I’m a bad parent? If you think you’re being a good example by raising kids with someone you know is a cold-blooded killer, you’re already failing as a parent.”
</p><p>
	That did it. The lump in Shilo’s throat took over and she couldn’t speak. She back down on the loveseat next to Matt, hiding her face into shaking hands as she let out audible sobs. Matt had been biting his tongue the entire time, but seeing Nathan make Shilo cry, that was the last straw for him. He placed Vergil down on the couch next to Shilo before standing up to speak to his father-in-law.
</p><p>
“Listen, I’ve been quiet this entire time for Shilo’s sake, but you crossed the line with what you just said.” Matt's tone was calm yet firm.
</p><p>
Nathan opened his mouth to retort but was interrupted.</p><p>
“No. We know what you’re going to say. But no matter how you twist it or turn it, there is absolutely no way you can justify poisoning your own daughter while gaslighting her about it and keeping her isolated for her whole life. What I had experienced with my own mother is not comparable due to the fact I wasn’t ever poisoned or lied to, but simply warned about the dangers of the outside world. She also came to accept the fact she couldn’t keep me inside at an earlier age. I understand you have concern for your grandkids, but frankly, you’re the last person anyone should go to for parental advice. In our household, we enforce the value of choice.”
</p><p>
Nathan’s glared at his son-in-law. “You may think you have what it takes to be a parent, but you clearly don’t. You simply wouldn't understand. You’ve already stolen my daughter from me when I tried raising her with the best of intentions in mind and tainted her, and you’re going to end up tainting her children. I won't be surprised if they end up wanting to be murderers when they grow up. At least I <i>tried</i> to hide my Repo life from Shilo."
</p><p>
Matt didn’t even blink. "Thank you. For showing me all of the right reasons to discredit your capabilities, let alone empathy, as a doctor. It's true what they say that doctors and nurses are the worst kinds of patients to have, but when your parent is a legitimate doctor, they're the worst kind of one to have. Their personal feelings, beliefs, and ideals get in the way of things, thus giving them the illusion as the parent <i>and</i> doctor that they can practice and parent as they please in combination instead of contrast with each other. Any <i>decent</i> parent would have the gall to be truthful and explain things better to their child and provide them a reason for them needing protection as opposed to <i>poisoning</i>. Your medical license is a joke because that M.D. at the end of your last name stands for ‘majorly disgraceful.’ As a doctor yes, but especially more so as a parent."
</p><p>
Nathan simply stood there in complete and utter shock. The air stood still for a minute, and the tension was thick and heavy.
</p><p>
“Enough of this!” Shilo hissed. The clicking of her heels was louder than ever as she went over to snatch Maggie from Nathan’s hands. She proceeded to strap her daughter back into the car seat while Matt went to pick up Vergil. “I knew coming here was a mistake.”  She said to Matt, who wasn't any less glad to follow her out the door.
</p><p>
Realizing just what he’d done, Nathan’s heart sank into his chest. “Shilo, wait! I didn’t mean to—.”  The door slammed without another word. Not from his daughter nor his son-in-law.
</p><p>
“I’m so sorry…”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I hope Nathan wasn't too out of character here. He clearly was a bit tipsy here and had a decade's worth of salt to unleash.</p><p>Fun fact: Matt's slam dunk at the end of the story was actually written by his owner Hatter. We were discussing the story on discord and she wrote out how she pictured how that moment would go with that quote and I couldn't think of anything that I could write to top it because it was such an epic quote I added it to the story (with her permission). Thank you to Hatter for allowing me to use it!</p><p>Hope you enjoyed it! I wrote this in a single night (and morning) but I hope it doesn't seem too rushed!<br/>(Btw, I'm hoping to update Sister Sweet again soon. I've just been wanting to write this particular drabble for a while and took some time to prepare for it. I also have been working on fixing some parts of the Sister Sweet outline I'm no longer happy with as I wrote it out a few years ago.)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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